FIN 405 – 1001 & 1002 – CASE PROBLEMS IN MANAGERIAL FINANCE

Spring, 2018

Professor Robert E. Chatfield Office: 528 Phone: 895-3019

Department of Finance Office Hours: M & W 10 to 12
Email: robert.chatfield@unlv.edu and by appointment

Class Schedule

Section 1001 – Monday & Wednesday 1:00 to 2.15 in BEH 102

Section 1002 – Monday & Wednesday 2:30 to 3:45 in BEH 102

Prerequisite

Completion of both Intermediate Managerial Finance (FIN 303) and Investments (FIN
307) with a minimum grade of C is required.

Textbook

 Case Problems in Managerial Finance by Klein & Brigham, 2009.

 Your textbooks from FIN 301 and FIN 303 should be available to use as reference
books.
 Wall Street Journal (Use this URL if you need a subscription: http://r.wsj.net/j3Bvd
Other miscellaneous materials will be made available on WebCampus throughout the
semester.

Equipment

Students need a financial calculator. The Department of Finance approved calculators are the
Texas Instruments BA II (various models), HP 10b (various models), and the HP 12-C
(various models). The visible presence of any other electronic device during examinations is
expressly forbidden and will be considered academic dishonesty.

You also will need access to a computer with Excel. If you do not have your own computer
that meets this criterion, the computers in the computer labs at UNLV should suffice.

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Course Learning Outcomes

This course focuses on the application of theory in financial management including the use of
Excel spreadsheets to assist with financial decisions. Although there will be a few class
lectures, most of your time will be spent on case analysis and the use of Excel for financial
decision-making. You should review your basic financial management textbooks (FIN
301 & 303) whenever a new topic is introduced to the class. Successful case classes
require the active participation of students and participation will be expected of each and
every student!

Upon successful completion of this class you should be able to recognize, analyze, and
construct feasible solutions to complex financial problems dealing with various financial
issues and concepts including:
 Time value of money
 Relationship between risk and return
 How cash flows create value

Case Preparation & Class Participation

Students should read the cases and prepare answers to questions prior to discussion of the
case in class. Students are not expected to have perfect answers to all questions assigned
prior to class. You are expected to be sufficiently familiar with the case and questions to
carry on an intelligent discussion about the case and the assigned questions.

It is imperative for eventual success on the course exams that you thoroughly understand the
answers to all case questions and work through the answers yourself in addition to following
the discussion of each question in class. Availability and use of FIN 301 & 303 textbooks is
crucial to understanding basic financial management practices applied to cases used in this
class.

Organization of Topics The dates and topics below are tentative as the class may move
somewhat faster or slower than planned.

Jan 17 Introduction, Organization of Class and Review of Syllabus

Jan 22 & 24 Review of Financial Math & Other Fundamental Finance Concepts

Jan 29, 31 Case 92 Macmillan and Grunski Consulting: Fundamental Concepts,

& Feb 5 consider all questions.

Feb 7 & 12 Case 51 Safe Packaging Company: Financial Analysis and Forecasting
consider all questions provided for this case on WebCampus

Feb 14 & 21 Case 42 West Coast Semiconductor, Inc: Cost of Capital consider all
questions provided for this case on WebCampus

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Feb 19 Holiday – Presidents Day

Feb 26 & 28 Case 65 Friendly Food Stores, Inc: Leasing consider all questions provided
for this case on WebCampus

Mar 5 Review for Exam 1

Mar 7 Exam I on Cases 92, 51, 42 & 65.

Mar 12 Capital Budgeting Review covers the 16 page handout available on

WebCampus

Mar 14, 19 Case 95 Chino Material Systems: Capital Budgeting, consider all questions
& 21

SPRING BREAK!

Apr 2 & 4 Case 58 Tasty Foods Corporation (A): Capital Budgeting consider all
questions provided for this case on WebCampus.

Apr 9 & 11 Case 59 Tasty Foods Corporation (B): Capital Budgeting consider all &
& 16 questions provided for this case on WebCampus.

Apr 16 Review for Exam II

Apr 18 Excel Tutorial – Pivot Tables

Apr 23 Exam II on Cases 95, 58, & 59.

Apr 25 Final Project on Capital Budgeting & Risk Assessment passed out and
discussed.

Apr 30 Attendance is not required but classroom will be open and instructor available
& May 2 for help with Final Project

May 7 Final Project due by 5:00 pm. Hard copy of final project/exam can be
turned into instructor’s office (BEH 528) or left with management
assistant in BEH 514 for instructor’s mailbox.

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Grades –Your final grade for the course will consist of the following:

Quizzes 15%
Class Participation & Professionalism 15%
WSJ Presentation 10%
Exam I 20%
Exam II 20%
Final Project/Exam 20%
Total 100%

Your final grade is determined from your performance as outlined above. There is no way to
obtain extra credit. If you have a personal problem that will harm your performance in class,
such as an accident, poor health or a death in your family let the instructor know before it
leads to a bad grade. If a situation such as this is likely to impact your performance on an
exam, we can more than likely reschedule your exam to accommodate the situation. Also an
incomplete or withdrawal can be given, but once the bad grade has been earned, it is too late
to change it. A withdrawal is not permitted by university policy after November 3rd for any
reasons. An incomplete can be given for emergency situations, but are not given because
you are unsatisfied with your grade.

Grades can not be given over the telephone. Letter grades are assigned as follows:

A  92 90  A- < 92

88  B+ <90 82  B < 88 80  B- < 82

78  C+ < 80 72  C < 78 70  C- < 72

68  D+ < 70 62  D < 68 60  D- < 62

F < 60

Quizzes

A multiple choice quiz will be given on every day we start a new case. The quiz will be at
the beginning of class. If you are more than 5 minutes late for the class you will not be able
to take the quiz. These quizzes will be multiple choice and based upon the descriptive
information in the day’s case as well as on recent Wall Street Journal articles we discussed.
There may be quizzes in addition to these; however they will be announced in class ahead of
time.

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Class Participation & Professionalism

Students are responsible for answering questions asked by the instructor. You will be graded
upon the quantity and quality of your class participation. Participation may take the form of
summarizing a case, answering questions, asking questions, or just general discussion
relevant to class material.

Professionalism in class is also a part of this grade and is based upon your conduct during
class. Examples of conduct that will earn a high grade in this category include:
 Attending class and not interrupting class by arriving late or leaving early
 Showing preparation for the material covered in class each day.
 Showing respect to other students
 Asking good questions during class
 Providing thoughtful answers to instructor’s questions during class

Examples of conduct that will bring your grade lower in this category:
 Missing class, arriving late for class, leaving early from class
 Using electronic devices during class time other than appropriate use of computers
and financial calculators
 Private discussions with other students during class time
 Fall asleep during class
 Showing a lack of preparation for class

I understand occasionally a student may miss class, or be late for or leave early from a class
for significant unavoidable reasons. If this should happen to you during the semester, then
please send me an Email explaining your reasons and giving me the date this will occur.
However if you have responsibilities that require you to miss class, be late for class or leave
class early on a regular basis then you should not take this class. Having difficulty with
parking or traffic on a regular basis is not a significant unavoidable reason!

Wall Street Journal Article Presentation

Each student will make a short presentation to the class during the semester. The
presentations will start on January 17. The presentation should include the use of visual
aids on the computer projection system in the classroom. Guidelines for the presentation
will be posted on WebCampus. The presentation should be about a Wall Street Journal
article related to finance or economics from an issue published within a week of the
presentation date. For example if you are presenting on January 17, then you may use a
WSJ article published from January 10 to January 6. Your chose of article should be
Emailed to the instructor for approval at least 24 hours prior to presentation.

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Incomplete Grades—The grade of I – Incomplete – can be granted when a student has
satisfactorily completed three-fourths of course work for that semester/session but for
reason(s) beyond the student’s control, and acceptable to the instructor, cannot complete the
last part of the course, and the instructor believes that the student can finish the course
without repeating it. The incomplete work must be made up before the end of the following
regular semester. If course requirements are not completed within the time indicated, a grade
of F will be recorded and the GPA will be adjusted accordingly. Students who are fulfilling
an Incomplete do not register for the course but make individual arrangements with the
instructor who assigned the I grade.

Academic Misconduct—Academic integrity is a legitimate concern for every member of the

campus community; all share in upholding the fundamental values of honesty, trust, respect,
fairness, responsibility and professionalism. By choosing to join the UNLV community,
students accept the expectations of the Student Academic Misconduct Policy and are
encouraged when faced with choices to always take the ethical path. Students enrolling in
UNLV assume the obligation to conduct themselves in a manner compatible with UNLV’s
function as an educational institution.
An example of academic misconduct is plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the words or ideas of
another, from the Internet or any source, without proper citation of the sources. See the
Student Academic Misconduct Policy (approved December 9, 2005) located at:
https://www.unlv.edu/studentconduct/student-conduct.

Classroom Conduct—Students have a responsibility to conduct themselves in class and

in the libraries in ways that do not interfere with the rights of other students to learn or of
instructors to teach. Use of electronic devices such as pagers, cellular phones,
or recording devices, or potentially disruptive devices or activities, are permitted only
with the prior explicit consent of the instructor. The instructor may rescind permission at
any time during the class. If a student does not comply with established requirements or
obstructs the functioning of the class, the instructor may initiate an administrative drop.

Classroom Surveillance—Nevada Revised Statutes (State Law) 396.970 Surreptitious

electronic surveillance on campus; exceptions. [Effective January 1, 2017.]
1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, it is unlawful for a person to
engage in any kind of surreptitious electronic surveillance on a campus of the
System without the knowledge of the person being
observed.
2. Subsection 1 does not apply to any electronic surveillance:
(a) Authorized by a court order issued to a public officer, based upon a showing
of probable cause to
believe that criminal activity is occurring on the property under surveillance;
(b) By a law enforcement agency pursuant to a criminal investigation;
(c) By a peace officer pursuant to NRS 289.830;
(d) By a uniformed peace officer of the Nevada Highway Patrol Division of the
Department of Public Safety
pursuant to NRS 480.365;

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 (e) Which is necessary as part of a system of security used to protect and ensure
the safety of persons on
the campus; or
(f) Of a class or laboratory when authorized by the teacher of the class or
laboratory.
(Added to NRS by 1993, 2138; A 2015, 575, 3668, effective January 1, 2017)

Disability Resource Center (DRC)—The UNLV Disability Resource Center (SSC-A 143,
http://drc.unlv.edu/, 702-895-0866) provides resources for students with disabilities. If you
feel that you have a disability, please make an appointment with a Disabilities Specialist at
the DRC to discuss what options may be available to you. If you are registered with the
UNLV Disability Resource Center, bring your Academic Accommodation Plan from the
DRC to the instructor during office hours so that you may work together to develop strategies
for implementing the accommodations to meet both your needs and the requirements of the
course. Any information you provide is private and will be treated as such. To maintain the
confidentiality of your request, please do not approach the instructor in front of others to
discuss your accommodation needs.

Religious Holidays Policy—Any student missing class quizzes, examinations, or any other
class or lab work because of observance of religious holidays shall be given an opportunity
during that semester to make up missed work. The make-up will apply to the religious
holiday absence only. It shall be the responsibility of the student to notify the instructor
within the first 14 calendar days of the course for fall and spring courses (excepting
modular courses), or within the first 7 calendar days of the course for summer and
modular courses, of his or her intention to participate in religious holidays which do not fall
on state holidays or periods of class recess. For additional information, please visit:
http://catalog.unlv.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=531.

Tutoring and Coaching—The Academic Success Center (ASC) provides tutoring,

academic success coaching and other academic assistance for all UNLV undergraduate
students. For information regarding tutoring subjects, tutoring times, and other ASC
programs and services, visit http://www.unlv.edu/asc or call 702-895-3177. The ASC
building is located across from the Student Services Complex (SSC). Academic success
coaching is located on the second floor of the SSC (ASC Coaching Spot). Drop-in
tutoring is located on the second floor of the Lied Library and College of Engineering
TEB second floor.

Copyright—The University requires all members of the University Community to

familiarize themselves with and to follow copyright and fair use requirements. You are
individually and solely responsible for violations of copyright and fair use laws. The
university will neither protect nor defend you nor assume any responsibility for
employee or student violations of fair use laws. Violations of copyright laws could subject
you to federal and state civil penalties and criminal liability, as well as disciplinary action
under University policies. Additional information can be found at:
http://www.unlv.edu/provost/copyright.

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UNLV Writing Center—One-on-one or small group assistance with writing is available
free of charge to UNLV students at the Writing Center, located in CDC-3-301. Although
walk-in consultations are sometimes available, students with appointments will receive
priority assistance. Appointments may be made in person or by calling 895-3908. The
student’s Rebel ID Card, a copy of the assignment (if possible), and two copies of any
writing to be reviewed are requested for the consultation. More information can be found at:
http://writingcenter.unlv.edu/

Rebelmail—By policy, faculty and staff should e-mail students’ Rebelmail accounts only.
Rebelmail is UNLV’s official e-mail system for students. It is one of the primary ways
students receive official university communication such as information about deadlines,
major campus events, and announcements. All UNLV students receive a Rebelmail account
after they have been admitted to the university. Students’ e-mail prefixes are listed on class
rosters. The suffix is always @unlv.nevada.edu. Emailing within WebCampus is
acceptable.

Final Examinations—The University requires that final exams given at the end of a course
occur at the time and on the day specified in the final exam schedule. See the schedule at:
http://www.unlv.edu/registrar/calendars.